Mr. Dowdell moved to suspend the rules, to enable him to make a report and introduce an ordinance. Carried.

Mr. Dowdell offered an ordinance, entitled “An ordinance to make provision to pay a certain military company therein named.”

Mr. Watts obtained leave and made the following report:

“The Committee on the Judiciary and Internal Affairs, to whom was referred an ordinance to amend and construe an ordinance to provide for the military defence of the State of Alabama, adopted January 19, 1861, have had the same under consideration, and instructed me to report the same back, and recommend its passage.”

Mr. Watts offered to amend by adding:

Be it ordained further, That the salary of the Quartermaster-General shall be one thousand dollars for one

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year from the time of his election, and at that rate until otherwise directed by the General Assembly.

Mr. Russell moved to lay the amendment on the table, and the yeas and nays were called. Yeas 40-nays 23.

Mr. Dowdell moved to suspend, to enable him to offer a resolution, which was done, and the resolution referred to the Committee on Finance.

Mr. Jewett offered the following resolution:

“Resolved, That the Governor of the State be requested to inform this convention:

“1. Whether the State of Alabama has received any patents from the United States for lands under the act of Congress of 28th September, 1850; and if so, how many acres.

“2. Whether any of the swamp and overflowed lands granted under said act of Congress have been selected and located by commissioners, on the part of the State, for which patents have not heretofore been issued by the United States.

“3. Whether the contract between the State of Alabama and said commissioners is of such nature that the same can be rescinded by the State, and said commissioners discharged.”

Adopted.

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Mr. Buford, by leave, laid before the convention a communication from the Hon. J. S. Williams, of Barbour.

Mr. Webb moved that the convention go into committee of the whole. Carried.

The committee of the whole, fifteen minutes before 2 P. M., rose and reported that they had made some progress, and asked leave to sit again.

Motion to suspend the rule to adjourn at 2 p.m. Carried.

Upon motion, the convention went into committee of the whole again, and after a few minutes spent therein, arose and reported progress to the convention.

Mr. Shortridge, from Committee on Federal Relations, made the following report:

“The Committee on Federal Relations, to whom was referred a resolution inquiring into the expediency of tendering, to the Congress a district of ten miles square, for a permanent seat of government of the Confederate States of America, and also an ordinance in relation to the same subject, having had the same under consideration, have instructed me to submit the following ordinance, entitled “An ordinance to provide for the permanent seat of government of the Confederate States of America, within the limits of the State of Alabama.”

The report and ordinance were informally passed over.

Mr. Dowdell, from the Committee on Public Expenditures, made the following report:

“The Committee on Public Expenditures, to whom was referred the account of A. J. Walker and S. F. Rice, for the hire of servants employed for the use of the convention, having examined the same, recommend its payment, and that the President be and he is hereby authorized to draw a warrant upon the treasury for the sum of thirty-four dollars for the payment of said account.”

Report concurred in, and the warrant ordered to be issued.

The convention adjourned until 4 P. M.

CCC

EVENING SESSION.

Mr. Jewett, from the Committee on Public Lands, made a report as follows:

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“The Committee on Public Lands, to whom was referred certain resolutions of this convention, directing them to inquire into the expediency of the State’s making grants of the public lands in aid of railroads now in progress of construction, have instructed me to report, that the whole subject of the policy proper for the State to pursue in relation to its public domain, has been carefully considered by them, and that they regard the course heretofore pursued by the United States government, of making grants of alternate sections to land to railroads, within certain specified distances on either side of the route of such roads, as eminently wise and politic.

“Such donations have aided very materially in hastening such internal improvements to a speedy completion, and have likewise been greatly advantageous to those portions of the State through which such railroads have been built, by inviting an industrious and enterprising population to settle upon and improve their waste and unproductive lands; at the same time the advantages resulting to the government as the proprietor of the lands, have been invariably manifested even before the completion of the roads, by greatly increased sales of the public lands of all descriptions lying in the vicinity of their routes; and in very many instances by the sale of large portions of the reserved sections at enhanced prices, and bringing into the treasury just as much money as the entire body of lands would have commanded had no grants been made to the railroads.

“The committee, therefore, have considered the policy which seems to have guided the United States government on this subject, a proper and safe one for the State of Alabama to pursue.

“The grant of lands in alternate sections to railroads that may be projected in consequence of such promised aid, or advanced towards completion by the increased means thus placed at their disposition, your committee do not regard in any other light than as a safe and prudent measure, calculated to add to rather than detract from the value of the entire public domain, and particularly so when the State reserves for sale, at an increased price, the remaining sections.

“Your committee deem it the true policy of the State to

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dispose of the entire body of public lands at the earliest practicable period; not by diminishing the price of them, and thus holding out inducements to capitalists and speculators to make investments in them and buy up large bodies to be held from market, but by holding them at a fixed and reasonable price, so as to enable all persons of moderate means to become landholders, who may wish to settle upon and improve them.

“Your committee, therefore, recommend the passage of the accompanying ordinance, granting alternate sections of public land to certain railroad companies therein named.”

The ordinances accompanying the report are-an ordinance entitled “An ordinance granting the right of way and making a grant of land to the Pensacola and Mobile Railroad and Manufacturing Company, in aid of the construction of a railroad connecting the waters of the Perdido river and Mobile Bay;” also, an ordinance entitled “An ordinance to grant certain lands belonging to the State of Alabama to certain railroad companies.”

Mr. Yelverton, from same committee, made a minority report, with accompanying ordinance as follows:

“The undersigned regrets the necessity which induces dissent from the report of the majority of the Committee on Public Lands-especially in relation to the appropriations thereof, and would respectfully submit objections to the policy indicated in the report of the majority, and in opposition to the donations in the ordinance accompanying the same.

“1. The unappropriated public lands within the State of Alabama, having been declared and ordained to be the property of the State, it is proper to make such a disposition thereof as may be most conducive to the general and permanent interest of the State, or the people thereof. And while it is admitted that railroads are of great importance in the development of the resources of the State, yet experience demonstrates that railroads are profitable to the stockholders or else capitalists would not invest. Assuming then that railroad stock is good paying stock, it may be urged in fairness that the stock in all

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such roads as will pay will be taken and the roads built by private subscriptions and enterprise.

“2. If the State should unsettle its well-defined and oft repeated policy against State aid to rail roads, and should inaugurate a great internal improvement and State aid policy, a well-guarded system should be most carefully devised and permanently fixed in advance of particular appropriations, so as to prevent partial and promote general, equal and equitable State aid to every section and interest in the State. But it is here assumed that public opinion is not prepared for such a radical change; it would be a rapid march without authority from one extreme to another, and fraught with endless strife.

“3. The condition of public affairs at this time is such as to warn us against any measures of even apparent extravagance, or any such as in their tendency might alienate any portion of our people from another, or from their hitherto unexampled loyalty to the State. It is a fact not to be denied, not to be forgotten, not to be condemned, that on account of the secession of the State and the legitimate train of acts and circumstances connected with it, that heavy expenses have fallen upon the State, and others must follow. And while in the truest spirit and sense of honor and patriotism, our people will meet and promptly honor all such needful and rightful drafts upon them, it is moreover true that they will look to their Representatives in charge of affairs, to guard with becoming economy the resources of the State, and to see that no unnecessary drafts be made which would produce heavy taxes on them. Treating, then, the lands as resources acquired by secession, in view of the fact that heavy expenses have arisen from the same cause, common fair dealing seems to demand that the resources thus acquired should be treated as a distinct fund to meet the debt thus created.

“Resolutions looking to an ordinance referred to this committee, introduced by an honorable delegate from Chambers, setting apart the proceeds of the sales of the public lands to the payment of such debts as the State has and may incur by reason of secession, is regarded, by the minority as proper, and an ordinance to that effect

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is herewith presented, and the passage thereof most earnestly and respectfully recommended.

“The minority ask leave also to report against all other ordinances and resolutions referred to the committee aforesaid, by which appropriations of any sort are asked to be made, either by the donation of any portion of the lands or the proceeds thereof.”

Mr. Jemison moved to suspend the rules, to enable him to make a report from the Committee on Credentials. Carried.

Mr. Jemison, from said committee, then reported as follows:

“The Committee on Credentials, to whom was referred the subject of contest in the election of delegates from the county of Shelby, have had the same under consideration, and instruct me to report:

“1. The sitting members, Geo. D. Shortridge and John McClanahan, were duly and properly returned. They were legally entitled to their certificate of election. This was clearly shown by the testimony adduced before the committee.

“2. The evidence, however, shows that the vote from Precinct No. 11 was not returned in the time prescribed by law, and that an election, was held at said precinct, and had the vote at that precinct been counted, the majority of the popular vote would have been in favor of the contestants, Jno. R. Kenan and John F. Welch.

“3. It further appears that there were two other precincts in the county from which there were no returns, but it does not appear whether or not there was an election held at either of these precincts, and if held, who would have received a majority of legal votes cast in the county.

“Hence your committee consider the returned members, Messrs. Shortridge and McClanahan, as entitled to their seats.

“Your committee further instruct me to report, that from no part of the testimony or proceedings before them, does it appear that the contestants, in making their contest, had any other than a laudable motive of protecting the purity of the ballot-box, and insuring a fair expression of the popular will as thereby expressed. They

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therefore recommend that they be allowed mileage and per diem; to which end they report the accompanying ordinance, and recommend its passage.”

Mr. McClanahan moved to postpone the majority and minority reports of the Committee on Public Lands, in order to take up a report heretofore submitted from the same committee on the same subject. Carried.

Mr. McClanahan then moved to take up said report, and it was carried.

Mr. Jewett moved to go into committee of the whole, to consider the report taken from the table by the convention.

No action taken.

Mr. Clarke of Marengo offered as a substitute, “An ordinance to cede the public lands, within the limits of the State of Alabama to the Confederate States of America.”

Mr. Dowdell offered the following amendment to the substitute:

“Provided, That the Confederate States of America shall agree to apply the net proceeds of the sales of the same, or so much thereof as may be necessary, to pay the

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debts of Alabama incurred on account of her secession from the United States of America.”